Ramen Girl
by saradas
Summary: "Ayame Ichiraku lived in ramen hell and there was no escape." canon!verse, Ayame-centric drabbles
1. one

**word count**: 469

**AN**: Another drabble series centering around Ayame and her finding a life outside of ramen haha. There will be quite a few OC's in this, but mostly I'll try and stick to the canon characters. This is about two years before canon. Ayame is sixteen and I'm just going to try and give her a normal teenage life, or at least as normal as it can get. There will be love, and drama, and a whole lot of ramen. Thank you for reading!

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><p>There were many downsides to spending every waking moment with her father.<p>

Ayame didn't mind smelling like ramen, even after spending hours scrubbing at her hair and clothes. She was so used to the smell by the time she was five that the ramen-smell barely registered to her anymore. Sometimes, though, she wanted to smell more like a girl and less like a ramen-girl- there's a serious difference, one that kept her so obviously apart from her peers. Back before she started helping her father with the shop they called her Noodles, said that she had noodles for hair and probably bled broth.

By the time Ayame was ten, she was pretty sure she'd never eat ramen again, no matter how much her father begged her to try his new recipes.

When Ayame was sixteen, she graduated from ramen-girl to Ramen Girl, and she knew that there was no way she would ever be normal. Ever. Not with her father standing within three feet of her at all times, glaring at any somewhat attractive man that talked to her.

She hoped for more, honestly, she did, but… Ayame Ichiraku was resigned to the fact that she'd spent so long around ramen that those childish theories might actually prove true. If she wasn't so afraid to bleed, she'd cut herself just to make sure she still had a normal human body. It was very tempting to just try it out on her father, Teuchi, but a part of her didn't actually want to know.

There was this brat named Naruto who had a bigger obsession with ramen than her father- and that was saying something, considering the Ichiraku family's intestines were probably large noodles. If they were, though, she feared she'd never escape spending the rest of her life tied to his hip (her father would approve, and she really hated him for it)- not with those big, pleading blue eyes.

Both of them had problems- all of them had something to do with ramen.

"Ayame-chan!" The brunette groaned and resisted the urge to dig a hole in the ground. A square hole, since a circular one would remind her too much of a freaking bowl… she didn't want to compare herself to ramen any more than usual. "I think I've got it!"

A steaming bowl was shoved in her face and her stomach curled. "Is this cannibalism?" She muttered, trying to ignore the hopeful face of her dad. Ayame shrugged, took her chopsticks out and ate.

It was probably cannibalism. She wondered what Naruto would say.

"_Ramen is a gift from the gods!"_ Her father always vehemently agreed. They'd probably both come to the conclusion that the gods had blessed them somehow by giving them ramen-y insides.

Ayame Ichiraku lived in ramen hell and there was no escape.


	2. two

**word count**: 396

**AN**: More ramen-angst! Isn't it wonnnnderful? Thank you for reading!

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><p>Ayame sometimes imagined a world where ramen was illegal.<p>

She couldn't see the Hokage banning something as useless as that. Ramen probably mattered as much to him as it did to every other normal person in the universe- as in, everyone but the Ichiraku family and a very odd Uzumaki. It was just food, honestly, so what _reason _would there be to ban it?

Not to mention it would look bad for an old man and Konoha's pariah to meet in a back alley every day just to serve ramen to each other. She could see her dad and Naruto shopping for the ingredients at different times, or attempting to confuse anyone who suspected them of eating ramen.

… Ayame's days were long, boring, and _hot_- and could anyone really blame her for thinking up such weird scenarios? The image of her dad hiding ramen in his coat like some desperate drug dealer was kind of funny, anyway.

"Can I take a break?" She asked flatly, preparing herself for a speech about work ethic and the wonders of ramen, and why she should appreciate both. A part of her thought her dad was just trying to get out of having to pay someone to work there- or completely avoid Naruto working there, whichever one. Nobody in their right mind, not even Teuchi Ichiraku (who, honestly, wasn't really in his right mind), would ever want to teach Naruto Uzumaki how to make ramen.

Teuchi sighed, looked over the empty stand, and nodded. "Fine, fine. I guess I can't keep you here forever." Ayame was positive that this statement was accompanied by tears, but she wasn't going to feel bad for making her dad cry. Nope, Ayame Ichiraku was free from ramen for the next- "Take an hour"- _blissful, wonderful, ramenless!_ hour.

It was times like this that made Ayame wonder just when her life became so unexciting and disappointing that sitting outside in the cold for an hour brought forth a happiness like no other.

(...Completely disregarding Kakashi's face, because there's nothing in the world that will ever top _that_ beautiful creature. How unfair, and a tad cruel. Why give such a perfect face to such a weird, weird man? Then again, Ayame couldn't talk. She was Ramen Girl, daughter of an overprotective man and most likely made out of noodles. _This was, unfortunately, her life_.)


	3. three

**word count:** 500.

**AN**: Hello again!

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><p>When Ayame fell in love for the first time, it was a complete accident. If she had known the kind of trouble it would cause her, she would've completely avoided it. Maybe she would've never gone back to her normal (extremely boring) life, but at least she wouldn't be hanging off the edge of a building with a certain white-haired pervert, arguing about what's truly important in life.<p>

"Do you know nothing!?" Ayame demanded, and she would have kicked at the man beside her if her fingers weren't already aching. She didn't know why he had forced them into this position, but it was terrible! And annoying. Probably just like the super-pervert, who insisted they hide while he… Well, Ayame didn't want to involve herself in that. She was still sixteen, after all, and it wasn't like she was the one who would be killed if they got caught. "There is no greater good in the world than _Icha Icha Paradise_!"

"_Violence_!" The man insisted. "_Icha Icha Violence_ was the best copy, and you know it! You're just too stubborn to admit it!"

"Ha! Don't make me laugh, old man! _Violence_ has nothing on _Paradise_. While I agree that _Violence_ had more drama, _Paradise_ was more realistic! You can't tell me that you honestly think _Jin_ would've got the girl after everything he put her through?! No civilian girl in her right mind would want to be with the man who blew up her house!" Ayame was, admittedly, a little… passionate. She had only discovered the series a couple of weeks ago, while she was out shopping. The man who owned the bookshop rarely checked for ages as long as someone looked old enough.

Still, she spent the next few days binge-reading every Icha Icha book she could get her hands on. It was a good thing her dad remained oblivious to just about everything besides ramen and potential suitors (unfortunately. Ayame wished he would just let one boy take her out on a date. The current situation she found herself in provided further proof of that need.)

The man had the audacity to look offended. "You're telling me you wouldn't want to follow Jin to the ends of the world? He'd protect you! Cherish you! Lov- Shhhh!" Taking one hand away from the ledge, he placed a hand over her mouth. She figured it was just something ninja were capable of, considering Ayame barely had enough strength to hold herself up with both hands.

Snapping her eyes back to the front and pushing her head against his, Ayame watched the group of ladies enter the bathhouse, clad in only towels. The hole was only big enough for one person, but this man was a pushover when it came to women and let her have half the view.

At that moment, hanging next to Jiraiya of the Sannin, Ayame wondered if anything in her life would ever be considered normal… Well, at least this had nothing to do with ramen.


End file.
